Got to get my picture on the cover

Wallace Immen of The Toronto Globe and Mail writes that there’s a golden payoff for an executive who gets a feature write-up in the business press or a photo on the cover of a financial magazine.

That’s according to results of a new study of how the compensation of 1,500 CEOs of companies in the United States rose in the year after getting featured in the media.

Iman wrote, “A single article featuring a CEO in a major business press such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune or Business Week raised his or her compensation – including salary and bonuses – by an average of $600,000 (U.S.).

“Getting on the cover of Forbes, Fortune or BusinessWeek was good for a raise that averaged $1.1-million.

“The more positive mentions in the business press in a year, the greater the increase in a CEO’s compensation.

“Negative coverage, however, was almost never followed by a reduction in the pay package. In fact, even if the story was slightly negative, the executive was likely to see an increase in compensation.”

Read more here.